Sorry friends. I know it’s been a slow few days, but life-life has required too much of my attention to properly keep things in order here. There will be a return to normal next week.
Rum Review: Gosling’s Black Seal
Posted on June 8th, 2010
Oh Gosling’s Black Seal, how do I love thee?
A welcome excursion from the Meyers’seses or Black Straps, Gosling’s Black Seal is a dark rum treat to the senses that is reasonably priced, pretty widely available, and, most importantly, consistently delicious. And, while the label may seem a bit lighthearted with it’s black seal balancing a rum keg, the bottle can be an asskicker if you mistreat it. There have been evenings where hours of tender love and affection suddenly changed into the Seal turning on me, leaving me sobbing on cold tiles, wondering where I’d gone wrong.
But don’t let that fool you into thinking I don’t like this rum…The Seal is imposing. It’s dark. On a shelf it may as well be black. But held up in the light it takes on a ruddy color similar to blood. Not the fake, ketchup red blood you imagine. But the real, thick, oozing brownish-red blood that comes out of your body after a bar fight. It’s a visual primer. It’s an immediate signal that this is going to be a beast.
The nose leans towards acrid rather than sweet. The overwhelming molasses scent you get with something like Black Strap is missing. Instead you’re presented with what is best described as burnt sugar. When caramelization has just started to become carbonation. Wrapped up in that is clean, but savory fruitiness that makes it easily bearable and an unplaceable herbal aroma – like poached pears for desert.
On sipping, the taste is a definite dark, caramelized sugar flavor. Bitter as it moves across the tongue, but leaving a slight citrus trail with it. Oranges? Cinnamon and cloves… there’s an unexpected spiciness and a numbing of the tongue. Larger draughts reduce the bitterness to the back of the throat, but wash the mouth with crisp, cool, rum. The flavor is almost what I would expect rum to be if I had never known rum. If I had been spared the assault of crap booze and never known the joy of a deliciously aged rum… this might be what I expect rum to be.
Tonight, I’m stopping early. Respect the Seal.
Rating: I give it 9 cannonballs out of 10. Because it makes me happy. And because it scares me.
Tags: Black Seal, Gosling's, review, Rum
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